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December 23, 2008

Treating Christians How They Treat Atheists

Image by Colin Purrington via FlickrPam's House Blend is one of a handful of non-atheist-related blogs I read regularly. In a recent post, cindik asks an intriguing question: "What might it look like if someone wanted to treat Christians the way gay people are treated?" The post was an interesting read, and I couldn't help noticing many parallels to how Christians treat atheists. So with cindik's post as an inspiring point of departure, what might it look like if someone wanted to treat Christians the way they treat atheists?A few of cindik's points about the treatment of gays apply to my question without much modification. For example,

There would be no tax benefits extended to churches.

Some judges would use a parent's Christian beliefs as a reason to deny custody, questioning their moral character.

Christian groups on college campuses would routinely have their signs ripped down and receive threats from other students.

Others I would add:

Christians would be regarded as morally deficient, evil people, lacking in even basic human goodness.

Atheists might regularly go door-to-door proselytizing to Christians.

Raising children to be Christian would be viewed as a serious abrogation of parental responsibility.

Persons convicted of criminal offenses would receive shorter sentences and be eligible for early release if they rejected their Christian beliefs.

Christians would be under tremendous pressure to keep their Christianity hidden for fear of being ostracized by their families and assaulted by strangers.

Christians could be fired from their jobs simply for being Christian and would have little legal recourse.